The Ultimate Crimson Dragon Emperor
by Hunter XZ
Summary: What if Issei met Ophis when he was younger. Stronger, Smarter, and Less perverted Dragon Issei. Dragon Faction. Issei x Ophis/Harem.
1. The Red Dragon that Seeks Infinity

**Prolugue 1**

 **Inspired By:**

 _ **Heart of a Dragon**_ **By SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan**

 _ **Highschool DxD: Rise of The Solar God**_ **By WarriorMan199456**

 _ **Kyoto's Dragon Emperor By Dragonva**_

 **Disclaimer**

 **I Own Nothing**

 **Blah blah blah**

 **This is an Issei x Ophis story. Don't worry it still Harem just Ophis is the main pairing.**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Issei Hyoudou was for all intents and purposes a normal 6 year old human being. He had two loving parents, a love of superheroes, and a kind friend, but his life was about to change.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'I'm so bored.' Issei thought to himself as he stood up from the sandbox where one could see a failed attempt at a sand castle. "Why'd Irina-san have to be sick today? I wanted to play." His best friend Irina Shirou was sick at home, which sucked for Issei because he had woken up ready to go to the park today.

He turned his head to try and find his mother. He quickly found her on the other side of the park. She was sitting on a bench and happily conversing with other mothers about God knows what. "Well I don't want to pull Moma away from her friends. Guess I gotta find somethin' to do."

He turned to walk back to the sandbox, but froze as he saw something he didn't expect. In the sand box was a girl. She had black hair, gray eyes and pointy ears. She was dressed in some kind of gothic lolita fashion. But what really grabbed the young Hyoudou's attention was what was in front of her. She had somehow turned to unimpressive lump of sand that Issei wanted to use for his castle into a miniature sand dragon, complete with wings and scales. It was honestly one of the coolest things that Issei could ever remember seeing in his short life. He quickly ran to the girl, excited. "Hey how'd ya make this?" He asked in eagerness.

She slowly looked up at him and responded, "Draig". She spoke in a very monotone fashion, almost like one of those robot he saw on t.v.

Issei, while confused, ignored her comment and asked again. " Seriously, how did you make this, it looks so cool?"

"It, wasn't much." She slowly said, "All I did, was this." At her words she pointed her finger at a random spot in the sand and that sand started to move. Grains floated up and rearranged themselves, until, in front of her finger, there was a perfect replica of the original sand dragon.

"That's so awesome!" The brown haired boy exclaimed. Suddenly, his face gain a look as if he remembered something. "Oh," He began, my name's Issei by the way. Hyoudou Issei. My friends call me Ise. What's yours?"

She waited for a moment before pointing at herself and responding. "...Ophis".

"Ophis, huh?" He said testing the name in his mouth, "I'll call you Ophis-chan then. That alright?" He asked for confirmation.

"...Very well,...Draig" She eventually said.

Issei was confused now. Did she hear his name wrong or something. Who the heck was Draig? He pointed to himself and spoke "Uh, my name is Issei, not Draig. Issei."

Ophis also pointed at him and replied, still monotone, "Draig".

Issei was beginning to get annoyed now and said his name again. "Issei".

"Draig" she responded again.

"Issei" He tried again.

"Draig" He had no success.

"Issei"

"Draig"

"Issei"

"Draig"

"Issei!"

"Draig"

"Issei!"

"Draig"

"ISSEI!"

"Draig"

"LISTEN, MY NAME IS ISSEI, SO JUST CALL ME ISSEI!"He shouted as he stood up, reaching his six year old limit.

Ophis looked at him for a moment. "...Okay, Issei"

"Thank you," he sighed, sitting back down, "Finally. Now let's play!" He said happily.

"Play?" Ophis saved as she tilted her head, showing her confusion.

"Yeah," Issei responded, "we're at a park. There's tons of stuff to do here. Let me show ya." And with that, he grabbed his her hand and pulled her around the rest of the park.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Man today been fun." Issei said as he looked at Ophis. He was lying on his back while Ophis was sitting next to him. They had been hanging out for several hours now and Issei was having a blast. It was really fun playing with her, even if she didn't know any of the games. He had quickly decided to limit physical games with Ophis. This decision was made after a game of tetherball with the black haired girl. Well, more like half a game. She hit the ball once and the cord totally broke, letting the ball fly off to who knows where. But regardless they still had enough stuff to do that it lasted them till sunset to finish. He turned to his new playmate. Well Ophis-chan, did you have fun?"

Ophis looked at him before responding. "I suppose so," she started just as monotone as that morning, "but I am not sure…...What exactly does 'fun' feel like."

He sat up, confused by the question. He scratched his cheek, trying to think of a good answer. "Hmm, I guess, fun….is that happy feeling you get by hanging with your friends." He responded.

"...Friends?" She looked him dead in the eyes as she tilted her head. "I ...have always... been alone…...I have never had friends…..Does that mean….I did not have fun?"

Issei eyes widened at her words. 'Never had friends? That's so-'. His face suddenly took a look of determination. "You're wrong!" He suddenly shouted.

"Huh" Ophis responded, not understanding her outburst.

"I said you're wrong!" Is said it again with just as much conviction as before. "You're wrong because you said that you never had friends. Well that's wrong because I'm your friend!" A fire was burning inside of Ise as he gave this declaration, and it was clear that that fire had no intention of going out just yet.

"You're my…...friend? She asked slowly. "What does it mean…..to be a friend?"

He looked her straight in the eye as he spoke. "A friend is someone who cares for you, someone that will help you whenever you need, someone that no matter what won't let you be alone when you need them." At this point, to make sure that his speech didn't sound half-baked, he started quoting lines from an anime he couldn't remember which one. But that didn't make the words any less true or important in his mind though.

At his words Ophis' eyes seemed to widen. To be alone. To be surrounded only be silence. Was not that the reason she wanted to kill Great Red? To get that back inside the quiet solitude of dimensional gap. If that was true, then why? Why did the words of this boy make her feel….what was this feeling? She did not know, but she did know that she did not want to lose whatever emotion was surging inside of her.

"So, Ophis-chan," Issei began to speak again, "I ask you again. Did you have fun today?"

Ophis looked up and if one looked closely, that could see the smallest of smiles upon her lips. "Yes," she said, " yes, I believe I did,...Ise."

Issei smiled. "Great, now how bout we-" He was cut off mid sentence as a voice rang through the air.

"Issei" the boy on question turned around to see his mother about a hundred feet away from him waving her arm in in his direction. " It's time to go home."

"Already?" the boy asked, "Aww man, well I guess I gotta go Ophis-chan, sorry." As he turned to walk towards his mother he felt a hand grab his wrist. He craned his neck to see that it was Ophis, who was also looking him right in the eyes.

"You said friends don't let other friends be alone" She said emotionlessly.

"But Ophis," Issei spoke, " Don't you have to get back home soon too?"

"I...have no home" she announced.

Issei eyes widened, then narrowed before he grabbed the hand of Ophis. "Come on Ophis-chan, let's go introduce you to my family." The brown haired boy pulled the dragon god to his mom before he spoke again. "Moma, this is Ophis-chan. She's a new friend I made today, and she doesn't have a place to stay, can she stay with us pleeeease?" He pulled out every child's secret weapon, the puppy dog eyes.

Mrs. Hyoudou looked at her son and his friend incredulously for a moment before smiling. " Well, if you trust her sweety, than I don't see why not." She then turned her head towards Ophis, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ophis-chan." Ophis responded with a simple nod. "Well, let's head home then." And with that the three of them departed to the Hyoudou household.


	2. Good Bye Self Proclaimed Little Girl

**Prologue 2**

* * *

The trio of Issei, his mother and Ophis approached the Hyoudou household. Ever since they left the park, Ophis had wrapped her arms around Issei's and held onto it with a passion. That, combined with how she stared at him with unblinking eyes, quickly began to make the brown haired boy somewhat uncomfortable. "Uum, Ophis-chan," the young Hyoudou started nervously, "can you let go please?"

"No" was the black haired girl immediate response. This caused Issei to sigh and to giggle.

"Oh, come on Issei. I think it's cute that your new friend likes clinging to you. Though I can't imagine that little Irina-chan would be happy about it." The brown haired woman said.

Issei turned his head towards his mother in confusion. "But Mama, why would Irina-san be angry about a new friend." He asked the question innocently.

This only caused his mother's grin to widen. "Well Issei, most girls don't really like it when other girls are around their male friend."

Her words cause her son to quirk his eyes in confusion. "What do you mean Mama? Irina-san's a boy."

Mrs. Hyoudou looked at her son with a questioning glance. "No, I am completely sure that your friend, our neighbor, Irina Shidou, is a girl."

Issei just stared at his mother for a few moments before the realization completely hit him. "What?" He questioned, his young mind having a hard time comprehending the truth. "WHAT!?"

"Oh look," Mrs. Hyoudou said, apparently not taking notice to her son's emotional outburst, "we're here." True to her words, they were now standing outside the Hyoudou household.

"Ise's, home" Ophis said as she looked at the house. They walked into the building.

"We're home." Mrs. Hyoudou said.

Mr. Hyoudou was currently sitting in the living room and reading a newspaper, relaxing after returning home from work. "Welcome home" He greeted as he moved his newspaper aside. As the paper moved towards the table, he turned his face and saw the addition clinging to his son. "Um, Issei, who's your friend?"

"Oh," Issei started, finally snapping out of his shock, "this is Ophis-chan. Mama said she could stay with us."

The man stared at the black haired girl for a moment before saying "Alright then. Nice to meet you Ophis-san".

"Hello" was her only response, not even turning her eyes away from Issei.

Mrs. Hyoudou smiled. "Well, Dinner's in about an hour, so you can stay in Issei's room until then. Why don't you to go up and play."

"Ise's, room" Ophis quietly spoke.

"Yeah," Ise said happily, "Come on."

With that, the two friends both quickly went up to the bedroom of Issei Hyoudou.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well Ophis-chan, welcome to casa de Issei. What do you think?" Issei asked hoping that his new friend liked his room.

"Its, small" was her simple reply.

Issei deflated at this. "Y-Yeah. But check this out, I've got a bunch of cool video games and manga" He said, gesturing to his collection in the corner in an attempt to impress his friend.

Ophis looked at all of the items blankly. She then began walking towards them and picked up one of the manga. It was Dragonball. She stared at it for several seconds before turning her head towards Issei. "Why, is this monkey youkai, riding Yu-Long?" _**(A/N: Think that that's the picture on vol 1)**_

This confused Issei. "Yu-Long? That's dragon's named Shenron and that's not a youkai. His name is Son Goku, and he is pretty much the coolest alien ever!" Ise spoke with enthusiasm.

"Alien?" Ophis asked. "What, is that?

Issei sat next to Ophis and began to sort through his assortment of manga. "Oh, aliens are amazing Ophis-chan. The fight and have all kinds of awesome powers: like flying, shooting energy blasts, and being super strong." Issei went on, getting excited talking about his knowledge of extraterrestrials.

"I, can fly" Ophis said. She wasn't sure why she said it, but she did.

"Really?" The young Hyoudou asked, "That's so awesome! Can you show me?!" His eyes were sparkling in child-like wonder.

Wordlessly, Ophis began rising off the ground, until she was about two feet in the air. She simply hovered there, waiting for her friend's reaction.

"Wow!" Issei exclaimed, "What else can you do?"

Ophis stared at him blankly for a moment before responding. "Well, I can….." The rest of the night consisted of Ophis and Issei talking about super powers and magic.

* * *

 ** _ ***The Next Day***_**

Issei awakened to the sun shining down upon his face. The young Hyoudou yawned and rubbed his eyes in an attempt wake himself up. Feeling a warm sensation on his side, he turned his head to see Ophis' form attached to his own. Her eyes were wide open and she was staring directly at him.

"Ophis-chan?" Issei asked, "How long have you been up?"

Ophis stared at him blankly. "I, don't need sleep."

Issei looked confused. " That's not right. Moma told me that even if you don't feel tired, sleep is important."

Ophis continued to stare at him. "Okay" she finally said.

"Good, it's time to go get breakfast. Let's go down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ ***Later***_

The Hyoudou family (plus Ophis) was finishing up breakfast when they heard a nice from the front door.

 _ **[KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK]**_

"I've got it." Mr. Hyoudou said as he went to the door.

"So Ophis-chan," Issei started enthusiastically, "What do you want to do today? We can watch t.v., read so manga, play video games-"

"Issei-san!" someone shouted, cutting off the brunette's words.

Issei looked to see Irina, his best friend and neighbor. "Irina-chan!" Issei jumped out of his chair and hugged his friend, causing her to blush madly. "I'm so happy your feeling better."

"U-Uh, I-I-I" was all that the young girl managed to get out.

"Issei," a soft but chilling voice was heard. The 2 children turned to see Ophis still in her seat at the table, looking down at them with a slight glare that would have sent shivers down Irina's spine. "Who, is this?"

"Oh, right," Issei said as her turned Irina so she was facing Ophis before pulling the black haired girl out of her seat to do vice versa. Obviously, he didn't notice the black haired girl's glare. "Ophis, this is Irina-chan, she's my best friend, and she lives across the street. Irina-chan, this is Ophis-chan. I met her yesterday at the park and now she's staying with us.

The two girls had different thoughts going through there heads at his words.

Irina: 'Who is this girl? Issei-san only met her yesterday, but she's already living with him? Is she suppose to be like his fiance or something. Where does that leave me? And when did he swap from '-san' to '-chan'? Not that I mind. It's just…..'

Ophis:'Best friend? Does that mean he cares more for her than he does for me? Why does this irritate me so much?'

"Anyway, let's go up to my room. I got this new Dragonball Z game I want to play." Issei grabbed both of the mentally contemplating girls and dragged them to his room. Not noticing as they looked at each other hesitantly.

And that's how the days went. Issei playing with Ophis and Irina. The girls slowly but surely getting even closer to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ ***One Month Later***_

 _ **[KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK]**_

"I got it" Issei said as he ran towards the door. Upon opening it, he found his best friend Irina standing there. "Hey, Irina-chan. What's up? You look sad."

This seemed to depress Irina even more. "Issei, I have something to tell you." She spoke slowly.

"What is it Irina?" Issei asked in concern.

"I-I just found out" the young girl was on the verge of tears at this point, "th-that my parents a-and I are moving away later today."

"Irina" Issei spoke softly. Suddenly, he pulled her into a hug. "Well if this is our last day together, then we better make it count! Ophis-chan, We're all heading to the park! Let's go!"

* * *

 ** _ ***A Couple Hours Later***_**

It was sunset, and the time for Irina's departure had arrived. Issei, Ophis, Irina were standing outside Irina's house, the moving truck only a few meters away from them

"So today was fun, wasn't it Irina-chan?" Issei asked.

Irina nodded her head. "Yeah, Issei-san." She began to blush. The Brown haired girl looked down and started to squirm a bit. She spoke again. "Hey, Issei-san, Can you lean forward a bit?"

"Uh, alright" He said, slightly confused by his friend. He leaned in slightly.

"N-Now c-can you cl-close your eyes?" The violet eyed girl asked with a stutter.

"Okay then" The boy responded and obeyed his friend's request. After he did so Irina looked up and proceeded to bring her face closer to Issei's. Slowly but surely, the distance between their faces decreased, and sure enough, their lips made contact. Issei's eyes at the contact and they widened upon realization of the situation. Ophis' eyes narrowed and she sent a glare at the brown haired girl. The kiss itself was short, lasting only 2, maybe 3 seconds, but to all those present, it felt longer.

Irina pulled her lips away. Her face was bright red, but there was a bright smile on her face. "I'm sure we'll meet again Issei-kun, Ophis-san." She then ran back into her house.

Issei just stood there, unmoving. 'What just happened?' He thought. He wasn't able to continue his thoughts however, due to his black haired friend suddenly grabbing his arm and roughly dragging him across the street and back to his house.

"O-Ophis?" Issei stuttered, still trying to regain his composer, "What are you-" Issei stopped talking when he saw the look upon Ophis' face. It was a mixture of a pout and an emotion that he had never seen on her face before.

Ophis was angry.

Issei's instincts as a man quickly kicked in. That look to him one undeniable fact. And he knew it to be the absolute truth. Issei knew…

...He Was Screwed.

* * *

 **Well, there's THe next Chapter.**

 **Irina's gone and she left Issei with a present.**

 **Next Chapter: Issei meets a very special old man.**


	3. Things Change

**Hey everyone, before I start anything, I have a poll on my profile. Should I have a female Vali in this, yes or no.**

* * *

It's been around a month since Irina left. Issei wasn't too sad about it because he had Ophis around. However, since Irina's departure, the black haired girl has been more….clingy with Issei. She refused to leave his side unless necessary, and had also developed an odd habit of glaring at anyone that got to close to him. He had tried talking to her about it, but all she did was huff and look away.

Today, the duo was on their way to the park. When they entered the happy ground for children, they saw a strange man. He was old, like really old. He had long white hair and a beard that was equal to the hair on his head in both length and color. He was wearing cargo shorts, a dark green t-shirt matching baseball cap. However, the most peculiar part of his attire was the majestic eyepatch covering his left eye. "Come one, come all, children." The old man said loudly, obviously trying to get the attention of the kids that were running around the park. "Come and learn about the marvelous bounties of nature that are breast."

Issei was actually a bit interested in what the man had to say. Ignoring the mothers pulling their children away from the elderly man, Issei walked towards the white haired individual. Ophis, being connected to him by the arm, followed. Issei's own mother would probably have kept him away from the odd man, however, she wasn't there, and his father had immediately fallen asleep on a bench when they arrived at the park.

The man, noticing Issei's presence, began to speak to the boy. "Hello boy, what's your name?" he asked kindly.

Issei answered, "Hi, I'm Issei and this is my friend Ophis-chan." Issei gestured next to him.

The man looked next to Issei and noticed his companion. 'The Ouroboros dragon? I didnt notice its presence at all. I wonder why it's with this child. Oh well, I guess I should just go with it.' "Well Issei-kun, Ophis-chan, allow me to tell you two about the wonder of the feminine chest?"

Issei looked towards Ophis, who stared at him with the same blank look that she always did. Issei turned back towards the old man who was looking with a look of anticipation. "Sure" The brown haired boy said.

The smile on the old man's face grew. "That's great. Well, to begin with-" He was interrupted by a voice.

"Odin-sama!"

The three turned towards the voice. Standing there was an slim elderly woman in a deep blue suit. Following behind her was a young girl roughly Issei's age. A pink ribbon was tied on either side of her long silver hair which was accented by her light blue eyes.

"Oh Gondul-chan, Rossweisse-chan, what are you two doing here?" The now identified Odin asked.

The elderly lady was opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by the her younger companion. "We're looking for you! It's Granny's job to keep track of you! You can't just keep up and disappearing and going off wherever you like!" She lectured the old man.

"Now, now Rossweisse-chan, you'll never get a boyfriend acting like that."

Rossweisse's face flushed in both anger and embarrassment. "I'm just a kid Odin-sama! I don't need a boyfriend!" She exclaimed.

"Lets just calm down everyone." Gondul said. "Rossweisse does have a point Odin-sama. I'm suppose to be your bodyguard. It's a lot harder to do that when I don't know where you are." At her grandmother's words, Rossweisse gained a smug look on her face. "However, Rose, you do need to lighten up a little. How am I ever going to get great grandchildren if you act like that?"

A blush adorned the silver haired girl's face. "G-Granny! I'm only nine! I don't need a boyfriend yet!"

"You're never too young to discover the joys of life Rose." The elderly woman said, before turning her head back to the old man. "Now, Odin-sama, it's important that-". She was cut off.

"So, what's going on here?" Issei asked somewhat irritability due to not being able to follow the situation.

Gondul looked towards Issei and Ophis. "Oh hello there. Sorry, I didn't notice you earlier. My name is Gonul, and the girl to my side is my granddaughter, Rossweisse. What are your names?"

"I'm Issei, and this is Ophis-chan." Issei stated as he motioned towards his friend who only have a slight nod in response. "So…. I don't get what's happening here."

"Oh, well you see, I'm in charge of looking after Odin-sama for today, but he had a bad habit of wandering off." She turned to the bearded man and shot him a look which he ignored. "Anyway, come on Odin-sama, you're late for your appointment."

"Yeah, let's go." Rossweisse said.

"Actually, Rose, I've been meaning to talk to you about that." Gonul spoke to her granddaughter. "I'm afraid that you can't come with us."

"What, but why?" The silver haired girl asked in surprise.

"Well," The elderly woman began, "it's a very important meeting, and we'll be discussing some confidential matters. You're simply too young and not in a high enough position to be included.

"But that's so unfair!" The silver haired girl shouted, having a small tantrum.

"Now, Now. Rossweisse-chan," The now identified Odin chimed in. "there's no need to get testy. You're in the middle of a park. Go play with kids your own age. In fact, I'm sure Issei-kun and Ophis-chan here wouldn't mind." He then turned to the young duo. "So what do you say you two? Wanna play with Rossweisse-chan?"

Issei turned towards Ophis, who looked at him with her normal blank stare. The brown haired boy turned back to the old man and spoke. "Alright."

"Perfect," Odin said. "Now come on Gondul-chan. Let's get that stupid meeting over with." The old man then began to walk away.

"Just a minute Odin-sama." Gondul said as she turned to face the children. "Now Rose, please behave yourself, and Issei-kun, please look after my granddaughter, alright?" She asked.

"Alright" Issei responded.

"Good," the elderly woman responded before following after Odin.

After that, the two children and the childlike dragon god were left alone in silence for several moments until Issei spoke. "So, what do you wanna do Rossweisse-chan?"

* * *

 _ ***Two Hours Later***_

Ophis, Rossweisse and Issei had played together for several hour and had a lot of fun. Issei was an enthusiastic ball at joy. Ophis had been satisfied just being with Issei. Rossweisse had as much fun as she could, but it was more difficult then one would think. The silver haired girl didn't to get within a three foot radius of the Hyoudou boy. It wasn't that she had anything against the boy or hadn't tried to get a little closer to him. The thing stopping her was the fact that the black haired girl who stuck to Issei like glue started emitting and terrifying dark aura accompanied by a pointed glare whenever the young valkyrie got close. The weirdest part was that Issei did not seem to notice the actions of his friend in the slightest. He would always ask Rossweisse what was wrong whenever she would suddenly backs away from the duo, and while it was somewhat endearing how much he worried about her despite the two having just each other, it was also a bit disturbing how he was not in the least bit offput by his friend's behavior.

Anyway, the group had played around for a while, but now they were just talking. "So Rossweisse-chan, what do like to do?" Issei asked.

The silver haired girl put her finger hand to her chin and thought. "I like reading, There also something that Granny told me about call hundred yen stores that I really want to check out." As she spoke, stars seemed to appear in her eyes.

The time flew by and Gondul had arrived to get her granddaughter. "Rose-chan, I'm back." Gondul said as she approached the group.

"Granny!" Rossweisse said as she ran to the woman. "You're back. Did the meeting to well."

The elderly woman smiled. "Yes it did, Rose-chan."

"Depends on what you mean by well." Odin said as he walked up behind the woman. "That silver hair maid was glaring at me the whole time. Seriously, you try to flip one skirt and it's like the world is against you."

"We should be considered lucky that Lucifer did not let that incident affect the terms of the meeting." Gondul said to her boss. "So, Rose-chan, how your day.

"It was fine, Issei-kun is really funny." The girl said with a smile.

"Oh, is he now?" Gondul asked as she looked at the brown headed boy. "Well personally, I'd love to hear a few jokes, but we all should probably get going now. Thank you for looking after my granddaughter Issei-kun." Gundul thanked him politely.

"Oh, seriously, don't worry about it." the boy stated. "It was fun."

"Why, you certainly are a nice boy." the woman began. "Perhaps when you and my grandaughter are older, the two of you could-"

"Granny!" Rossweisse screamed in embarrassment. "Stop!"

Issei just stood there, not understanding why Rossweisse was upset all of the sudden.

After a few moments, the grandmother and granddaughter pair said their goodbyes and left. Issei and Ophis we're about to go back as well,. When Odin asked them to stop.

"Issei-kun," he began. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to speak to Ophis-chan for a little while? It would only be a few minutes." He stated.

Issei looked at Ophis for a moment.

She looked back at the old man. "I, stay with Issei." She said.

"Please Ophis-chan. It concerns something big and red that I feel like you might be concerned about." Odin claimed.

Ophis's eyes seemed to narrow slightly at his words.

Noticing her sudden interest, Issei stepped in. "Go ahead, Ophis-chan. It's fine." He said to his friend. "I promise to play with you later alright?."

"...Promise?" She asked.

Issei smiled. "I promise." He confirmed.

"...Alright then." She said as she released his arm.

Issei smiled and began walking back home. He turned around and waved to his friend. "I'll see you later Ophis-chan." He said as he walked away.

* * *

Issei walked back to his house alone. It was weird for Ophis to go somewhere without him, but Issei didn't complain. While he did care deeply for his black haired friend, she had been overly clingy lately. Issei was honestly feeling somewhat suffocated.

Issei walked into his home. "Mama, Dad, I'm back!" Issei declared. His voice echoed through the house, but there was no response. The brown haired boy, confused by the silence, walked deeper into the house. "Mama, Dad, where are you?" The boy opened the door to his parent's bedroom and immediately froze when looked into the room.

Lying on the ground were his parents, face down in pools of their own blood. Issei stepped back "W-W-W-Wha-Wha-". The young boy suddenly vomited, his stomach not being able to handle what his eyes had just seen. Tears slowly fell from his eyes down his face. "M-Mama, D-Dad! Wh-What's going o-on!?" Wh-Who-"

"If you wondering who put your parents in that state, it would be myself." A voice interrupted Issei. Issue turned to look down the hall, only to see a man. The man had brown hair and matching eyes, and he wore priest vestments. "Sorry, I was planning on waiting a little longer before I made my entrance, but I just couldn't take any more of your stuttering."

Issei took a step away from the man. "Wh-Wh-"

"Why?" The man finished the boy's question for him. The man reached into his pants pocket and took out a photo. He then tossed the photo to Issei so the Hyoudou could see it clearly. It was a photograph an ornate sword.

Issei's eyes widened as he recognized the blade. 'Wait a minute, that's the sword that Irina had hanging at her house.' Issei thought.

"I can tell from your face that you recognize the sword in that picture. That's good." The man smiled before taking a step towards the boy, who in turn took another step away from the man. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Faust Villan. I am a member of the Catholic Church. Or _former_ member I should say. I can't really call myself a member anymore with all the bridges I burned last time I was there." Faust spoke the last bit to himself more than he did Issei, who had no idea about what this guy was talking about. "Anyway, long story short is tensions are high and a war might be coming between the three factions. I can't go back to the church, but as somebody raised by the teachings of God, the idea of fleeing to the fallen or the devil's absolutely disgusts me. So if I want to survive, I need something that can give me an edge, a legendary weapon for example. Unfortunately, all of the noteworthy weapons that I know of are all so heavily guarded that it would be suicidally of me to try and steal them. Luckily for me, before I lost my place at the church, I learned of a certain holy sword: Hauteclere. Its blessed with the power of purification and, for some reason, has a bit more of a lax guard, only being guarded by one man, a Japanese man by the name of Touji Shidou."

Issei was surprised again. 'Irina-chan's dad.' he mentally noted.

"Aw, so you recognize the name too, great." Faust began. "You've really gotta work on hiding your facial expressions kid. Where was I? Oh yes, you see, since Hauteclere only had one person protecting it, I figured I could take it for myself, so I tracked down Touji Shidou and discovered that he lived across the street from here, but moved a few months ago. After that the trail goes totally cold. So I had to change my approach abit. I know that your family was the closest to the Shidou family and my hope was that your family might have some idea about where they are. Your parents didn't tell me anything so…." Instead of finishing his sentence, the man shrugged in the direction of the room containing the corpses of Issei's parents.

Understanding the man's implication, Issei chose the best option that he could think of. RUN. Run as far away as possible. Run away from the man. Run out of the house. Run to find someone that can help. Issei turned around and began sprinting in the opposite direction of the man.

"Oh come on. Don't run away." The man said, not moving from his spot. "That's just going to make this all way more difficult for the both of us."

Issei ran. He saw the front door and as he was seconds away from reaching it, the boy fell to the ground. 'My chest hurts. Why does my chest hurt?' Issei thought to himself as he looked down at he chest, only to notice a large, bleeding gash. "W-What?" Issei spoke softly.

"I told you that running will just make things harder. Faust said as he walked into Issei's line of sight.

"I-I don't know a-anything." Issei managed to gasped out through the pain.

The man looked at Issei's face. "I believe you." He said simply. A small amount of hope entered into the brown haired boy; however, it immediately vanished at the man's next words. "But even if you don't know anything, I need to cover my tracks. It's nothing personal. Maybe I'll make this whole thing look like a classic burglary that got out of hand. I don't know. But whatever I decide to do, I can't have you around telling people." The man pulled out a dagger and held it in a reverse grip. He rose it up in preparation to stab the boy.

'Is this it?' Issei thought. 'Is this how I die. Mama a-and Dad are already….I-I don't want to die. Ophis and I were going to-' his thoughts changed their focus. 'Ophis. She'd be s-sad if I died. I don't want that. B-But what do I do? I'm too weak. I want to be stronger. I need to be stronger!'

 **[I might be able to help with that.]** A deep voice spoke in Issei's head.

'W-Wha?' Issei thought to himself in confusion. Hearing voices in your head wasn't normal, but considering that Issei was dying…

 **[There's no time for questions.]** The voice said hurriedly. **[If you listen to me, you can greatly improve your chances of living and seeing your friend again, then listen to what I say.]** This had Issei a attention. While normally he might be a bit skeptical, it's not like he had a lot of other options. As if sensing Issei's compliance, the voice continued speaking. **[Good, now before he brings his dagger down, raise your left arm to block it, I can take care of the** **rest.]**

"It's been interesting kid, but I can't say much else. This is goodbye." Faust brought down the weapon.

Issei, in desperation, did as he was instructed and threw up his non-dominant arm to intercept Faust's weapon. When the dagger finally made contact, both males were surprised, not the sound of flesh being pierced, but the sound of metal hitting metal. Issei weakly looked up at his arm to see it covered in a clawed red gauntlet with a green gem resting in the middle.

 **[Boost]**

Sound erupted from the gem and Issei felt a surge of strength flood his being. Using this new found energy, the brown haired boy managed to push himself to his feet.

Faust's eyes widened. "No way, a sacred gear?" He spoke. A small smirk then appeared on the man's face before quickly turning into a full blown smile. "A red gauntlet…. Oh, that must be a Twice Critical. That would explain you having the strength to stand. This is perfect! I wanted a holy sword, but a sacred gear is just as good. All I have to do now is kill you and take it after its connection to your soul breaks." Faust charged at the boy. Issei narrowly dodged to the side, but Faust went for the second strike.

 **[Boost]**

The gauntlet spoke again and more power surged through Issei. The boy dodge to his right and instinctively threw a fist at Faust's face. However, Faust was still faster that Issei and was able to dodge the punch, quickly retaliating by using his knife to slash the boy's chest once again, making a bloody cross on Issei's chest. The former exorcist wasn't finished there, as he proceeded to kick the brown haired boy with enough force to send him flying into the wall and leave a decent dent in it. Faust backed up as Issei staggered forward.

 **[Boost]**

The gauntlet called out another time as Issei felt even stronger. He charged at the man. As he got closer, he pulled his fist back, preparing to punch Faust in the gut.

However, Faust was ready as he jumped over Issei and threw his dagger at the boy.

Issei deflected the dagger and prepared to charge the man again, but was stopped by a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and saw a second dagger sticking out of his chest. 'He had…. Another one?' the boy thought to himself.

 **[Reset]**

All of Issei's strength seemed to leave him. The boy fell backwards, landing on his back. Issei couldn't move.

The world blurred around him.

 **[I'm sorry kid.]** The voice said. **[It seems like that is all that your body can take at the moment. I knew that three boosts were pushing it but I wanted to give you the best chance I could.]**

Faust decided that now was a good time to approach Issei. "That was a good shot kid, but let me tell you why you failed, even with that sacred gear." He picked his first dagger off of the ground. Twice Critical doubles its users power. However if I was to measure your strength against my own, you'd be around a 2 while I would be sitting closer to a 30 or 35. So even with that boost, you were nowhere near my level. Don't feel bad about it though. I've had years of training and experience and you're just a brat that I happen to run into. But you shouldn't worry. It'll all be over soon." The man continued to approach Issei as he talked. He was about one meter from the boy before a noise to the side caused him to turn his head. Issei, in his pain was unable to follow Faust's line of sight, but recognized the sound of the front door opening. "Wait a minute?" Faust began as he looked towards the now open door. "Who are-" He was suddenly cut off when something black flew at him.

'Was that…...a snake?' Issei thought slowly as he saw the reptile hit Faust in the chest before he could react. The man flew through the air. The sound of him hitting the opposite wall was loud and blunt. There was also a wet squelching sound that the boy couldn't identify.

"Issei." Ophis said as she was suddenly in his vision.

"Ophis...chan?" The boy weakly spoke.

"Issei." Ophis repeated in her normal monotone.

Issei smiled weakly. "Sorry...Ophis-chan…...It seems...like….I won't…...be able….. to keep my…..promise….to play with you." And with that, Issei Hyoudou's eyes closed.

* * *

 **The name Faust Villan comes from the term "** _ **First Villain"**_ **if anybody didn't catch that. I thought it was pretty simple because that was basically the entire point behind his existence in this fanfic.**

 **Issei's parents are dead. I know that it's a bit morbid for the third chapter of what might have seemed to be a light hearted story, but there is a reason for it. In the light novel, Issei's parents don't serve any real purpose other than extra motivation occasionally. The vast majority of the time, they just sit on the background, or aren't even there. Keeping them alive would honestly be more work for me. Look at animes like Infinite Stratos, Kore wa Zombie desu Ka?, Familiar of Zero, Strike the Blood, or Masou Gakuen HxH, there's a good reason most harem/ecchi/action animes don't have the main character's parents appearing outside of plot related events if at all.**

 **Anyway, this chapter marks the beginning of a new journey. From this point on, the story get more interesting.**

 **Is Issei going to survive?**

 **What is Ophis going to do?**

 **All will be answered in the next chapter: A New Life(I know, kinda a lame title, but hey it works).**


	4. Things Change - Half Chapter

**This is half chapter basically covers things for Ophis's point of view.**

 **Spoilers: it gets kinda emotional about mid-way through.**

* * *

After a few moments, the grandmother and granddaughter pair said their goodbyes and left. Issei and Ophis we're about to go back home as well, when Odin asked them to stop.

"Issei-kun," he began. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to speak to Ophis-chan for a little while? It would only be a few minutes." He stated.

Issei looked at Ophis for a moment.

She looked back at the old man. "I, stay with Issei." She said.

"Please, Ophis-chan. It concerns something big and red that I feel like you might be concerned about." Odin claimed.

Ophis's eyes seemed to narrow slightly at his words.

Noticing her sudden interest, Issei stepped in. "Go ahead, Ophis-chan. It's fine." He said to his friend. "I promise to play with you later alright?."

"...Promise?" She asked.

Issei smiled. "I promise." He confirmed.

"...Alright then." She said as she released his arm.

Issei smiled and began walking back home. He turned around and waved to his friend. "I'll see you later Ophis-chan." He said as he walked away.

Ophis turned back to the old man. "What, do you know, about Great Red." She asked.

"Well, it's not too much information honestly, but I do think that it is something that you may consider it useful." Odin stated. The old man pulled out a price of folded paper. He slowly unfolded the paper until it was revealed to be a large map. The map had many different locations on it: heaven, the underworld, Asgard, Olympus, etc. "You see, I've had some of my researchers look into the dimensional gap. One of the researchers took it upon himself to figure out figure out the limits of the dimensional gap, whether or not it's really infinite, and if not, what rests on the other side."

"What, does this have, to do with, Great Red?" Ophis asked.

"Oh, my bad, I got a little carried away." Odin apologized. "Anyway, while he was doing that, over a few centuries, he noticed something. While we don't know the limits of the Dimensional Gap, Great Red doesn't seem to actively explore it. The Apocalypse Dragon seems to stay on a certain path within the dimensional gap, as you can see on this map." He took out his fingers and traced a thin line that was drawn swerving around all of the different worlds before ending where it started. "Feel free to have this. I've got plenty of copies." He handed the map to Ophis.

Ophis looked at the map blankly. "Why, are you giving, this to me?" She asked.

"Well, I thought it would be nice for the Infinite Dragon God to owe the Norse Faction a favor." Odin said. "I honestly don't agree with your goal of killing Great Red, but I also know that there isn't really anything that I can do to stop you. So I might as well do what I can to stay on your good side."

Ophis looked at the old man. "Very well." She said before she started to walk away.

"Oh, but there's one more thing, Ophis-chan." Odin said to the girl before she left. "Recently there has been talk about a group known as the Khaos Brigade causing trouble for the different pantheons. There has also been rumors that you are involved with them. Is that true?"

She looked at the old man with her normal blank expression. "...I, was approached by, a group going by that name, several years ago, but I, had no interest in them, or their goals." She stated.

"I see," the bearded man said quietly. "Thank you for the information Ophis-chan. I'm sorry for taking up your time."

Ophis didn't bother responding as she simply walked away.

Odin looked at the retreating figure of the dragon god. "So Ophis wasn't the leader of the Khaos Brigade. That's good because either doesn't mean that our enemy is the dragon god, but it also means that we don't know who exactly we're up against."

* * *

Ophis walked briskly to the Hyoudou household. She wanted to get back to issei. The Dragon God didn't like being separated from the boy for too long. After a few minutes of walking, she walked up to the front door of the Hyoudou house and pushed it open. The Dragon God did not like what she saw. There was a strange man holding a knife, but what attracted Ophis's attention was what was in the corner of the room.

Issei. He was on the ground. The boy was bleeding from two scars on his chest and in clear pain. The look in his eyes was dull and empty.

Wait a minute?" the man began as he looked towards Ophis. "Who are-"

Ophis didn't think. As soon as she saw Issei in pain, she acted. In an instant, she summoned a snake and launched at at the man with the knife. The snake hit him in the chest and immediately went through his flesh and out the other side, red and pink meat in its mouth. Despite the snake going through him, the force that the rest his body received was still enough to send him flying him towards the opposite wall. He was dead instantly.

"Issei." Ophis said as she approached to the downed boy.

"Ophis...chan?" Issei said weakly spoke.

"Issei." Ophis repeated in her normal monotone. She sat down on her knees, getting closer to the boy.

Issei smiled weakly. "Sorry...Ophis-chan…...It seems...like….I won't…...be able….. to keep my…..promise….to play with you." And with that, Issei Hyoudou's eyes closed.

"Issei." Ophis said.

The boy didn't respond.

"Issei." Ophis said again, giving the boy a small shake.

He still didn't move .

"Issei" Ophis said again, her monotone beginning to make way for something else that she couldn't recognize. "Wake up."

He still didn't respond. She tried over and over, again and again, but the boy would not wake up. "Issei, why won't you wake up?" The Dragon god asked the unmoving body.

Something landed on Issei's face. Ophis looked at it. 'Water' she thought. More drops of water landed on the boy's face. She then noticed. Those drops we're coming from her own eyes. She wiped the water away but more quickly took their place. "What's happening?" She asked no one. "This feeling. I don't like it. Why won't it stop?" The feeling didn't stop. For some reason, it only seemed to intensify. "Issei. I don't like this. Make it go away." Her body began shaking. "Issei, please, wake up. I need you here Issei. I don't want to be alone again. Please. Please Issei! Please! Please! Wake up! Wake up Issei! PLEASE!"

Suddenly, something inside of her broke, and in an instant, it was as if years of pent up feeling had been released all at once. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed. She screamed and cried for who knows how long. The scream was inhumanly loud. Windows broke, the house shook and people on the street stopped fell to their knees, grabbing their heads when they heard it. Ophis didn't care. All she cared for was Issei. And he was gone. She didn't want to be alone again. All she wanted was Issei.

* * *

Great Red flew through the Dimensional Gap. The Dragon of Dragons loved the sense of freedom he had when flying around in the Dimensional gap. He meant physical freedom, not emotional. He had that kind of freedom constantly. When the number of beings that could make you feel pressured could be counted on one hand, you tended not to let things bother you.

"Baka-Red" The massive red dragon heard. Great Red kept flying, ignoring the voice, or he tried to at least. When the source of the voice realized that it was being ignored, it flew up to him and place itself directly in front of the dragon's right eye.

Great Red quickly recognized Ophis. Its form was the same as the last time that he had seen it: the young, black haired humanoid female. Not that it mattered. Even if it's form had changed, The Apocalypse Dragon still would have been able to easily recognize Ophis from it's aura alone. This time, the dragon god was carrying something in it's little arms. Whatever it was, it was small, roughly the same size as Ophis's current form. A closer look showed that it was a human body. The body sported pale greyish skin and brown hair. It was also covered in bloody clothing.

" **What do you want Ophis**?" Great Red asked, irritation clear in his voice. " **Are you here to fight me again? Because, if you haven't noticed, I'm not in the mood to deal with another one of your stupid murder attempts."**

"I, need assistance." It stated. There was something different about it's tone, though Gread Red couldn't quite place it.

" **And why would I help you?"** Great Red asked incredulously. " **For the last several centuries, all you've done is try to kill me. We're not exactly friends."**

"If, you help, I, will stop, trying to kill you….please" It stated.

This caught the red dragon's attention. " **Alright, Im listening. What is it that you want me to do anyway?"** The large dragon asked. If it was a different dragon, Great Red wouldn't have even bothered to pay attention but he was aware of how naive Ophis was. Including how it didn't understand the concept of lying. As a result, any promise it gave was genuine. He was happy to take an opportunity to end its constant murder attempts.

"I, need you to, help Issei." The Infinite Dragon God stated.

" **Issei?"** Great red asked. " **Am I to assume that's the human that you're holding?"**

"Yes" Ophis responded.

Great Red too a closer look at Issei's body. " **Hmm, I can sense Ddraig within him. This puny human is his new host?"**

"Yes," Ophis said again. "Please, save Issei"

There was silence for a moment.

" **Very well, we have a deal."** Great Red stated. " **But as it stands, his body is essentially already dead. It's probably thanks to Ddraig that his souls hasn't left it yet. Also, my abilities govern over creation, not restoration. I can create a new body for him using his old body as a base, but he will be more dragon than human. And I'll need your assistance to keep his soul from leaving before his new body stabilizes. Do understand all this?"**

"I, do not care." The Ouroboros Dragon stated. "As long as, Issei is alive….."

Great red looked at Ophis for a moment **. "Very , to go this far for a human, host of Ddraig or not, is very out of character for you."** Great Red stated " **Just who is this human?"**

Ophis looked down at Issei and ever so slightly smiled. "He, is my friend."

* * *

 **Well, that was sad.**

 **Honestly I had to stop a couple of times while writing Ophis's reaction to Issei's death because my eyes kept tearing up.**

 **I know it's short, but it's just a half chapter meant to fill in the gaps.**

 **If your wondering why Ophis was changed from a "she" to an "it", it's because the last part of the chapter focused more on Great Red, and he sees Ophis as a genderless "it".**


End file.
